Police under pressure to reopen investigation into 'Black Cab rapist' John Worboys

Police are under pressure to re-open a criminal investigation into John Worboys over dozens of alleged rapes that never came to trial.

Worboys - dubbed the ‘black cab rapist’ - is to be freed before the end of the month, despite being one of the most prolific sex offenders in history. He is believed to have committed more than 100 rapes and sexual assaults, preying on female passengers.

But when he was jailed for a minimum of eight years in 2009, he was only ever convicted of one rape and five sexual assaults.

The Metropolitan Police, which missed opportunities to catch Worboys sooner, is now being urged to review dozens of complaints by women with a view to bringing fresh charges. That could allow authorities to charge Worboys for other crimes and lead to him being kept in jail.

It has emerged that the Parole Board chairman, Prof  Nick Hardwick, is to be summoned before the House of Commons Justice Committee to explain how the decision to free Worboys was reached and why victims were not informed of his impending release.

The director of public prosecutions at the time of Worboys’s conviction, Sir Keir Starmer, urged victims to contact the police.

Sir Keir, now the shadow Brexit secretary, said: “First and foremost, it’s very important that if there are any allegations that anybody thinks have not been looked into, sufficiently or at all, they go to the police and make those allegations so they can be looked into.”

Sir Keir is facing criticism for failing to press ahead with more charges against Worboys at the time.

But he said: “I think these decisions were nine years ago and it’s very important you go to the Crown Prosecution Service and get an accurate read-out of the decisions that were made, particularly if further allegations have been made now.”

The CPS said on Thursday that it was looking at the history of the case to examine whether all evidence was passed to it by the Metropolitan Police.

Lord Macdonald, Sir Keir’s predecessor as DPP, said: “There is nothing to stop police examining the cases at any time and where they think there is sufficient evidence to submit it to the CPS for charging. There is no statute of limitation.”

Richard Scorer, a specialist abuse lawyer with law firm Slater Gordon, who represents 11 of Worboys’s victims, said: “I don’t see why police cannot reopen these cases. Of my clients, Worboys was charged with offences against three of them while eight have not been heard in court.

Mr Scorer added: “Our clients have been left devastated by the shocking news that a man who mercilessly raped scores of women, denied his heinous crimes and then forced them to endure the torment of a criminal trial is to be released.”

Mr Scorer, who brought civil claims against Worboys, went on: “For victims not be told that he is to be freed by the Parole Board adds insult to injury.

“When we visited Worboys in jail in 2013 he was clearly a very manipulative and dangerous individual.

“We are concerned he may have fooled the board into believing he is no longer a threat.

“For many years after he was convicted he continued to deny even the offences for which he was found guilty.

“The Parole Board must now reveal publicly whether Worboys has finally admitted his crimes and shown any remorse whatsoever.

“If he still denies his crimes, then he clearly poses a continuing risk to women.

“If he now admits that he deliberately and systematically drugged and raped women, then the police need to look at whether there are any crimes that he was not convicted of and seek justice for those victims.”

The Parole Board’s decision to release Worboys - having decided he did not pose a risk to the public - has caused widespread astonishment. The board had declined to release details of the decision and any evidence presented to it over Worboys's

Bob Neill, the Conservative MP and chairman of the Justice Committee, said: “What has happened here is very disturbing. It is vital that the public has confidence in Parole Board decisions."

He added: "We will also want to ask about how the parole system can be made much more transparent, something Nick Hardwick himself has rightly called for.

Bob Neill

"In my view, it is ridiculous that the current rules prevent the board making public the reasons for their decisions. Professor Hardwick has called for MPs to back 'opening the process up' and we will give him the opportunity to make precisely that case."

Meanwhile, 58 MPs have signed a letter written to Justice Secretary David Lidington by Labour's Stella Creasy, demanding to know whether Worboys's victims were given an opportunity to make representations to the board before it authorised his release.

"The decision to release Mr Worboys, even on strict licensing conditions, cannot be considered to have been made with a full and complete understanding of the impact of his many crimes without such information," the letter said.

The letter also raised the prospect of further prosecutions being brought against Worboys, asking whether women who came forward with additional allegations following the original investigation had been contacted "given their reasonable expectation of a longer sentence".

Signatories from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru include Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable and Labour MP Ms Cooper.